The ‘New Normal' is not going to be #RemoteWork; it will be #FlexiWork

Our society is busy trying to adjust to the current situation, and make sense of what the word will look like in the future. There are already some pundits who claim they have unlocked the secrets for success in the “new normal.” However, this attitude has some mental blocks.

Firstly, we are not in a new normal— we are in an interim state. Any “new normal” is yet to become a reality. Now is the time to prepare for what's next. Secondly, as cool as the buzzwords like #wfh and #remotework sound, there are cracks showing up already. Over the past 3 months, organizations across the world had to shift overnight into a remote working mode. While this has opened doors of tremendous possibility, there are some kinks to iron out too.

So what will the post pandemic work culture look like? I am pinning down my thoughts here based on my personal experience and my conversations with colleagues within the company as well as my contemporary peers in other organizations.

Some people want to return to the office. Others won’t take that chance, and prefer to work from home. How do we take advantage of being able to work in-person again while leveraging the lessons we are learning now during the pandemic?

The thing to note is that 'new normal' for organizations will differ from industry to industry. I don't think it's going to be either completely work-from-office or completely work-from-home, which are two ends of a spectrum. The ideal work culture will sit somewhere in between as a hybrid between these two extremes. Hence, I say that the future of work would be “Flexible Work” or "FlexiWork". Welcome to the world where we can truly work from anywhere, anytime & any device.

Let us look at the challenges that need to be addressed before we can construct the perfect mix of the ‘new normal’ as a work culture.

The first part of this is a human mindset challenge. Not everyone is ready to return to the office. High-risk people want to be safe. And since the onset of the pandemic, we've seen that people can deliver value, and in some cases, create even more value in a highly productive manner while working from home.

Some people are advocating for a continuation of remote work in part because of this reason. Unfortunately, exclusively working like that isn't realistic either, at least not for everyone. Not everyone has good office space at home and distractions like kids, dogs, spouse, etc. This makes many people desire for a return to the company office.

Another point to note is that people are social animals. Many people thrive in an office because they feed off the energy of others. They like building the social capital with their colleagues and peers. Hence, having a place to go is important to them even if twice a week. Morale and productivity get a boost as a result.

Once we have dealt with the mindset challenge, we should next look at the appropriate workplace layout challenge.

We will need to re-organize our physical workplaces. Clearly the old layout won't work. Space, ventilation, cleaning protocols and positioning of work desks will require careful reconsideration. Architects & interior designers are already incorporating "Desk Distancing" and "Contactless Offices" into their vocabulary.

Also with limited seating, probably an internal online reservation system for seating will become necessary, so as to avoid overcrowding in office premises. The last thing you need is three-fourths of the organization showing up when you’ve removed half of the seating capacity.

Another important rethinking of the office floor design that needs to be considered is the need to create more huddle rooms instead of conference rooms. These huddle rooms should be purposefully built to enable video conference between team members located in different locations. While core team members might be located within the physical office premises, non-core team members could be located in their remote work locations. Logitech's smart, simple & affordable video conferencing solutions are specifically designed for huddle spaces, and are providing great value in bringing dispersed teams together.

Also, I see many colleagues complain about their eyes, brain, wrist and back feel stressed after back to back video conferencing. So maybe a protocol needs to be set for standardizing the use of professional video conferencing equipment and ergonomic hardware for all members of the team, at least in the office premises. Again, Logitech takes ergonomics seriously, and has developed a range of mice, keyboards and other peripherals that reduce physical stress.

Some types of meetings, such as brainstorming and design meetings work better in-person. We must think of a way to digitize this experience. There are some cool technology solutions can improve the remote experience, but most people don't have them in their home office. So organizations need to take a call on flexible work arrangement between team members and possibly provide the hardware devices to their employees as well. A mix of in-person meetings and Remote meetings would better address these issues.

Also, as “in-person” meetings become restricted to those delivering high value, then the meeting room itself changes. The big table disappears, and everyone instead has a chair with a flip-up table for taking notes. That makes spreading out easier and helps keep people focused on the goal of the meeting, which is now something more akin to a workshop.

In the new normal, we'll never again have meetings where every key player is in the same room for every discussion. We'll need to capture and encourage those important contributions, even when they are on the other side of the digital world.

Then we need reconsider the path to promotion. This part is often not discussed, however now with a flexible work culture, we have to set some protocols regarding how career advancement decisions (and special assignment opportunities) would work going forward. Traditionally, in many organizations, networking with the boss and superiors has been the key to getting promoted or at least it has been the key ingredient for assignment of “hot projects”. The important part was “being visible” in that setting. But now with flexible work timings and culture, assignments would often be rewarded virtually; hence some criteria must be established for doing the same. In this scenario, video meetings are even more critical, as it provides valuable visual cues such as facial expressions & body language. This will help you to bond with your managers and gain their trust. High quality 4K webcams such as the Logitech Brio can really help in this regard.

Few Key pointers to keep in mind in the post-pandemic "New Normal"

1)  In the post-covid world, the decision making hierarchy would also change as all key players will not be present in one location, and sometimes approvals might have to take place in an asynchronous manner.

2) Unified management and analytics are going to rule. As the number of meeting rooms grows and remote work expands flexibly, it is critical that IT has access to a single dashboard for remote management and monitoring, including remote upgrades. This is critical for resolving potential issues across homes, office desktops, meeting rooms and BYO devices.

In addition, data-driven deep insights will help IT manage facets like room utilization and physical distancing while offering visibility into meeting room issues in real time. Big data is going to make a big impact in many other areas as well, especially in the manufacturing sector.

3) Organizations must ensure support and consistent user experience to all their employees. IT must provide comprehensive guidelines and the required hand-holding to users on technology acquisition. Remote workers must acquire the best audio-video devices and cloud services that allow for comprehensive IT support and a consistent user experience across all meeting environments and spaces as employees balance dual work environments of their homes and offices.

4)  The flexibility in work timings and work locations would enable many women to join into the workforce. This is probably going to be a huge boost for Indian economy post-covid, as it will literally increase the potential workforce by 30% within India.

5)  There is going to be a massive Demand Reset across the board, as we are even witnessing right now. Many products and services would see an upsurge in demand while many other products or assets will see a significant reduction. For example, commercial real estate might see a significant downsizing whereas video collaboration hardware and software will see an upsurge in demand. We have already witnessed this with the phenomenal growth of Zoom & Microsoft Teams.

Finding the right balance between the physical and virtual workplace will determine our success in the eventual new normal. It will take new tools and new attitudes. And successful companies in the future will be those which start figuring this out sooner rather than later. FlexiWork will be the new mantra for organizations worldwide to attract, retain & motivate key talent to catapult them to new heights.